The bus will serve Honolulu’s
Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the United States with more than 21 million passengers per year.

The new bus is being developed as part of Hawaii’s Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) to
meet sustainable energy objectives of decreasing dependency on imported oil and
reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The initiative is a central component of the state’s
goal to be powered 100% by renewable energy by 2045.

Robert’s Hawaii, the state’s
largest employee-owned tour and transportation company, will serve as the bus
operator, shuttling passengers between the airport’s terminal and car rental facility.

Hawaii is positioned as a global center for the advancement of hydrogen and
other alternative fuels. The Federal Highway Administration has designated multiple
alternative fuel corridors with electric vehicle chargers or hydrogen fuel stations.

Additionally, as part of an agreement between the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and
the Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies, the U.S. Air Force has
been demonstrating hydrogen as an alternative fuel at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

In February, SunLine Transit Agency in California put into service a El Dorado electric bus with a US Hybrid fuel cell range extender. (Earlier post.) US Hybrid said that the advanced fuel cell design lowered the overal cost of the bus by 70%. BAE Systems is the overall system integrator and provider of the powertrain and electronics.

In 2014, US Hybrid was awarded a contract by the Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies (HCATT) to design, integrate, and deliver its H2Ride Fuel Cell Plug-In Shuttle Bus for operation by the County of Hawaii Mass Transit Agency’s (MTA) HELE-ON Big Island bus service. The project is funded by the State of Hawaii and Office of Naval Research via the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI).